A step-by-step, photo illustrated recipe for making a yummy Collard Sandwich. Serve it up with some Fried Fatback and a side of Black Eyed Peas. It’s a great way to use up any leftover collards you might have. Wait…is it even possible to have leftover collards?

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Collard Sandwich Recipe:

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New Years has just passed us, it’s now officially 2013. While collards are available throughout the year, chances are you might have some leftover from your Official New Years Day Meal. This is a great way to use up those collard greens. It’s really very simple and it’s something that a few “very special” restaurants here in the South have on their menus during the winter months.

My niece served these up at her restaurant a few years back. She makes some pretty good collards…according to those that actually “LIKE” collards. As you may know, I’m not a fan of these healthy and good for you greens. I’ve just never been able to acquire a taste for them. I keep trying them on special occasions but, I still don’t find any that I can handle. Growing up, everyone in my family enjoyed collard greens…except for me. I figure if my own mama couldn’t cook them to where I liked them….no one else will ever be able to.

Still, I had to have at least a bite or two as part of my New Years Day Meal. And, collards were the first thing I cooked and posted a recipe on, when I started Taste of Southern on January 1st of 2012. I did it as a tribute to my mom and I think she would have been proud that I even tried. You can find my recipe for collards and for the entire New Years Day Meal, right here on our site.

I’ll show you below, how to make the “hoe cakes” that you’ll need as the bread for your Collard Sandwich. You’ll also need some cooked collards and a few pieces of fried fatback to go along with them. Looks like having collards as my first recipe each year….could become tradition. Ready to give them a try? Let’s Get Cooking!

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Collard Sandwich Recipe: You’ll need these ingredients.

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You’ll need these ingredients to make the cornbread hoe cake. It’s really easy. Hoe cakes are just simple pieces of fried cornbread.

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Add the cornmeal to a medium size mixing bowl.

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Crack one egg into a small dish, whisk it up with a fork.

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Make a small well in the cornmeal. Pour the egg in the cornmeal.

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Add the salt.

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Add the buttermilk.

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Grab a fork and stir the mixture, just enough to incorporate all the ingredients.

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This…is just a bit too dry.

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Slowly add just a little more buttermilk, if needed. Stir it a time or two as you go.

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You’ll want your batter to look more like this. It’s a little wet but not overly wet. You want it to the right consistency so that you can pour it into the pan from a spoon or ladle. Don’t worry if you have a few lumps, they’ll work out as it cooks.

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Add enough oil to your skillet to cover it about 1/4″ deep in the bottom. I just fried up the Fatback in this pan so it’s already warm…I just need a little more oil. You should have your skillet pretty much warmed up with your cooking oil by the time you’ve mixed your batter. The batter doesn’t need to sit out for long once it’s mixed, you need to cook it right away.

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On my stove, medium heat will usually get the oil hot enough for frying when I’m using my cast iron skillet. Your stove may vary. You’ll want to heat up the pan and oil to a proper frying temperature. You don’t want it smoking and overly hot as it could erupt into flames and cause a fire if it’s too hot. Adjust the temperature as you go.

You can test your oil to see if it’s ready for frying in a couple of different ways. A drop of cool water placed in the pan should start to sizzle, pop and dance over the oil. It’s pretty much the same if you sprinkle a few grains of cornmeal into the pan. If the cornmeal sizzles and dances over the top of the oil, you should be ready to start frying up your hoe cakes.

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Use a large spoon and carefully drop some of the batter into the hot oil. The amount placed in the pan each time will determine the size of the hoe cakes that you make. You can probably get 3 or 4 smaller hoe cakes in the pan at the same time. I decided to make one large sandwich so I’m adding a big spoonful of batter to the pan.

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If the batter doesn’t spread out evenly, you can take the back of the spoon and gently spread it around. You want a thin hoe cake as opposed to a thicker one. That way, it has more “crunch appeal.” Thicker hoe cakes will have more of the cornmeal taste and could even be a bit doughy in texture if not fully cooked.

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Ah…the mystery of frying cornbread. When is it done enough to flip it over? You’ll need to watch the edges of your cornbread to determine when it’s time to flip it. It’s pretty much like frying pancakes, you watch for the edges to start turning brown. You may also see some bubbles starting to form around the edges or, even in the middle, it just depends on the thickness of your bread. It will take a little practice if you’ve not fried hoe cakes before but, you’ll catch onto it really quick. You can do it.

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When the edges have browned, carefully flip the hoe cake over with your spatula. Just watch for splatters of hot cooking oil when you do it.

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You’ll need two hoe cakes for every sandwich you intend to make.

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Heat up the collards….we’re getting close….and…your kitchen will smell funny.

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Place a big old spoonful of collards between two of the hoe cakes and you’re ready to dive in. Use a slotted spoon to dip the collards with. Drain off as much of the pot juice as you can so it doesn’t make the cornbread hoe cakes all soggy. You can cut the hard skin away from the fatback and place the meat (fat) on the sandwich itself or, just serve it alongside the sandwich. Hot peppers are often served on the sandwich as well but, I didn’t have any. I do suggest that you serve it up with some vinegar close by. Most people like to add a little vinegar to their collards.

A step-by-step, photo illustrated recipe for making a yummy Collard Sandwich. Serve it up with some Fried Fatback and a side of Black Eyed Peas. It's a great way to use up any leftover collards you might have. Wait...is it even possible to have leftover collards?

Ingredients

1 ½ cups of Yellow Self-Rising Cornmeal

2/3 cups Buttermilk

1 Egg, whisked

½ teaspoon of salt

Oil for frying

Instructions

Place the cornmeal in a medium sized mixing bowl.

Crack the egg, whisk it with a fork and add it into a well formed in the center of the cornmeal.

Add the buttermilk.

Add the salt.

Stir the mixture just enough to incorporate the ingredients.

If the batter is dry, add a little more buttermilk as needed for a smooth consistency.

Test your oil for proper frying temperature.

Drop a spoonful of the batter into your skillet. Adjust the amount depending on the size you desire.

If necessary, use the back of the spoon to spread the batter out. You want thin hoe cakes.

Watch for the edges to brown then, carefully flip the hoe cake over.

Fry until the hoe cake is golden brown on both sides.

Remove from oil, place on folded paper towels and let drain.

Repeat the process. You need two hoe cakes for each sandwich.

Serve warm and enjoy.

Assemble the Sandwich:

Place a heaping spoonful of cooked collard greens between two pieces of fried hoe cake. Top with fatback and hot peppers if desired. Serve with a side of vinegar.

Your Comments: Have you ever tried a collard sandwich? Do you even like collards? Some people think you need a lot of sugar in the collards to improve the taste…what do you think? I’d love to hear your comments on our Collard Sandwich Recipe. It will only take you a minute or two to share your thoughts and memories with us. Just remember, all of our comments are moderated. That means that I read each and every one of them before they are approved for our site. It could take up to 24 hours before your comment appears but, be sure to come back, I reply to as many comments as possible. Thank you for your visit today. I’d greatly appreciate it if you’d tell your family and friends about us and I certainly look forward to you coming back to visit with us real soon.

Comments (8)

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OK,thanks for the nice picture recipe. Can’t believe you don’t like Mr. Collard.Here are my observations. First ,I use the Vates variety(one main stalk) versus the spreading variety. I never use sugar.I remove most all the stems(unlike the picture that has many)and I tear,not cut into strips like some folks.I sauté a sweet onion,diced, in some bacon grease and fry the already wilted from steam/boiling water collard pieces. Some country ham doesn’t hurt. Some use a smoked turkey wing. Mmmmm good!

Well, if you don’t like collards it’s because you haven’t had them cooked properly and sugar is NOT the way to cook them. I hadn’t heard of a collard sandwich but I always have leftovers from New Year’s Day so this sounds like a yummy way to eat them!

I put some chicken boullion in my pot likker and cider vinegar. If I don’t have a ham hock strips of bacon help add some pork flavoring but you don’t eat it. Now I’m off to find a recipe for Potlikker Soup! Getting excited about NYD!

Hi Betsy, You’re not the first person to tell me I must not have ever had collards that were properly cooked. I just always figure that if mama didn’t know how to cook them, nobody did. If I had a dollar for every bowl of collards she placed on our table, I’d have… well… lots of money. Everyone else in the family loved them except me and she cooked them often. I must add that she always added a bit of sugar to hers as well.

I understand some folks place a LOT of sugar in their collards and I have to agree that it can be over done, but I don’t think that Tablespoon of sugar does much more than kill a bit of the bitter taste.

Happy New Year and do try out the Collard Sandwich, you’ll love it.

Thank you for sharing your comments. I’m thankful you found us and do hope you’ll stop by for another visit… real soon. Be Blessed!!!

Hello Mr.Gordon, I’m so happy to have found this site! Growing up everyone at my Grannys loved collards but me! i tried and i tried i just couldnt like em,but after granny passed i started making them for my daughter,whom loves all green veggies,and i always ALWAYS make hoe cakes with collards,she loves em and i fry a lil cabbage for myself so i can have a samich! i load my cakes up with sweet cream butter and salt when they are pipping hot…. mmm mmmm i wish i had some now! again thank you for this site! such great memories that i am having reading your recipes… memories that i have pushed away,afraid they would hurt…. but no,this had brought a smile to my face!

Hi Sun-Dee, I’m always happy to hear that we’ve brought back a few memories with our recipes. I’m happy to share the recipes, and comments like yours make it all worthwhile. I take you still haven’t acquired a taste for collards either. That’s OK by me. Smile.

Thank you for sharing your comments and memories about our Collard Sandwich Recipe. The frost has just started hitting the collards around here so they are showing up everywhere in the last few days.

Thank you for your visit and I do hope you’ll stop by again… real soon. Be Blessed!!! -Steve

Hi Ashly, I’m glad you found the recipe and I hope you’ll let me know how it turns out for you. Of course, I’m not really sure how anything to do with collards can actually sound “amazing,” but I’ll take your word for it. To each his/her own I reckon. (You do know that I don’t actually like collards… right?) Still, I’m glad you find it worth giving a try and I hope you enjoy it. Thanks for sharing your comment and Collard Sandwich memories with us. Do visit with us again… real soon. Be Blessed!!! -Steve